On November 13, President Sam attended the opening ceremony of CPR/AED project. Our Club joined the project as Bronze Sponsoring Club. Altogether, twelve Rotary Clubs joined this projected hosted by Rotary Club of Hong Kong Northeast, in partnership with St. John Ambulance. TVB artist 曹永廉 and Miss Hong Kong 2014 邵珮詩 were special guests. Do you know every year around 8,000 cases of cardiac arrest require emergency ambulance service in Hong Kong? That is over 20 cases per day. CPR/AED is critical to survival in the minutes before the ambulance arrives. Past President Webster is working with our Interact Clubs to set up a training day for our Interactors in 2022. Before that, on November 28, there is a training day for District Officers, Rotarians and Rotaractors. Our Past President Lily and Rotarian Jason are registered to attend the certification course.
Several of our members were active at this year’s End Polio Now Walk & Carnival. Past District Governor Belinda, chair of District Rotary Foundation Committee, led the District’s End Polio work this year along with support from Past President Grace and Past President Eddie from our Club and others. Rotarian Jason, on the other hand, led our Club’s effort. President Sam, Past President Grace, Past President Dora, President Elect Eliza and Rotarian Jason’s friend Ken had lunch at Tai Po Cooked Food Centre. The group was guided by food recommendations from Charter President Patrick, as well as Past Presidents Ka Hing and Lily. After lunch, Past President Grace went ahead to Science Park to help to set up the special ceremony. Rotarian Jason, President Sam, Past President Dora, President Elect Eliza and Ken went on a 5.5km walk from Tai Po to Science Park as part of the End Polio Now Walk. The Carnival was full of games, and arts and crafts booths. Our Club was recognized by District Governor Keith Chow and Past District Governor Belinda for its contribution to the PolioPlus fund. The ceremony was also live-linked with Macau and Mongolia.
On October 23, President Sam, Past President Grace, Immediate Past President Mark, Rotarian Jason and friends of Rotary volunteered at Holy Cafe, handing out hot meals and face masks to the elderly.
On September 30, District Governor visited our Club (at President Sam’s office). President Sam, Charter President Patrick, Vice President Kelvin, Past Presidents Kay, Grace and Webster, President Elect Eliza and Rotarian Jason represented our Club and our Board. District Governor Keith Chow led a full team from the District including: Assistant Governor Sunny Chen, Chief District Secretary Ron Chan, Deputy Assistant Governors Stella Law and Stacy Ho, and District Secretaries Brian Ho and Louis Ma. It was also agreed that District Governor Keith will be our speaker at our January 13 lunch meeting.
On September 18, President Sam and Rotarian Jason attended District’s Public Image Seminar. This year the Public Image Committee is headed by Immediate Past District Governor Eric Chak and includes our Past Presidents Dora, Lily and Angela. Past President Lily was the organizing chair of the seminar this year. Immediate Past District Governor Eric and Past President Dora began the day with a briefing on “What is Rotary Brand,” and District’s Public Image goals, its social media and newsletter. Speaker Ms. Ruby Wan presented on “The Significance of Brand Building & Positioning of Rotary Brand.” Speaker Mr. TM Wong taught us “Special Tips on Mobile Video-Taking.” Speaker Roger Ng (Past President of Rotary Club of Peninsula) presented on “How to organize and execute on-site journalistic photography to beautify Rotary services.” Finally, Past President Angela kicked-off this year’s People-of-Action Photo Competition, which will include a video category in addition to People-of-Action photos.
Vocational Service is one of Rotary’s five avenues of service. We were happy to speak, via Zoom, to multi-cultural students and parents about careers in accounting and law. We thank Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Outreaching Team for Multi-Cultural Community for inviting us to do this program with their service beneficiaries. Our speakers included: Past President Webster and his colleagues Emily and Amandeep (on careers in accountancy and auditing), Past President Charles and Catherine (on careers in law). Rotarian Jason worked behind the scenes to manage logistics and technical details.
On July 18, our first service outing of the Rotary Year! Arranged by Past President Lily with the NGO, Suicide Prevention Services (生命熱線), we volunteered for the Outreach Befriending Service for Suicidal Elderly. This is a program sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust to support the elderly with emotional distress and suicidal thoughts through professional case services and befriending volunteer support. The theme of the day, due to the hot summer season, was, “消暑打氣(Don’t)冬瓜水”. President Sam, President Elect Eliza (& Tiffany), Rotarian Jason (& Sara), Past President Samuel (& Amy), Rtnnes. Coco and Kelly met Lily at SPS’s Links Café in Kwai Hing. Divided into four outreach teams, the teams visited 14 elderly cases at their homes in the West Kowloon district and gave them a care package containing biscuits, hygiene masks, hand sanitizer, sweet heart cake (老婆餅), and winter melon water (冬瓜水). During these home visits, team members chatted with them and found out how they were doing, how is their health and whether any other support is needed.
On June 13, 3:00 p.m., the HK Harbour OC team and the Hong Kong Island Region Scouts OC team joined together to have a happy walk around The Peak. The weather was suitably warm, breezy and there was no rain — perfect for the 3.5km walk on Lugard Road. From HK Harbour, President Mark was joined by President Elect Sam, Rotarian Eliza, Past President Grace, Rotarian Jason and his wife, Sara, and lovely Mango. Hong Kong Island Region Scouts was represented by Terrence Ho, Edward Wong, Tony Yeung and Arthur Chau, and family and friends. Our Scouts counterpart updated us on the current registration of the 2021 Island Scout Trail Walk. Also, an awards ceremony is planned for later in the summer on August 1. Mainly it was a good time for fellowship between our two teams. After the walk, the HK Harbour team had a happy hour at a cafe at the Peak Galleria. Much was discussed, but mostly about lovely Mango.
On June 5, various members attended as guests Interact Leadership Training Seminar, organized by our sister Club, Rotary Club of Pudu. President Mark and Charter President Patrick dropped by, while Rotarian Jason participated as panelist during the international session. The Seminar was expertly run by Pudu Rotarians, who spent a substantial amount of time to prepare for the Seminar, and the first such one virtually. Harbour attendees learned a great deal from the Seminar, not only about Interact but about how to support Interact, especially during this ongoing pandemic.
On May 8, at Kowloon Bay International Trade & Exhibition Centre, our District conducted Training Assembly for incoming Presidents Elect, officers and directors. Various members attended, including: Charter President Patrick, Past District Governor Belinda, Past President Angela, President Elect Sam, Rotarian Eliza (President Nominee) and Rotarian Jason. The Keynote Speech by Mr. Kenneth Fok, JP, informed us on Youth Development and Sports in Hong Kong. Later, Past District Governor Belinda chaired a breakout session on The Rotary Foundation, while Past President Angela and Rotarian Eliza presented in the Public Image and Service Projects (Health, Preserve Planet Earth and Peace) breakout sessions, respectively. Rotarian Eliza also acted as the reporter for her breakout session in the Plenary Session. One new item for this upcoming Rotary Year is to appoint a Youth Protection Officer at each Club, as required by new Rotary International policies.